House passes Health Care Bill

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

<EOM>

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

And it's a bi-partisan bill to boot. There was actually a lone Republican that has put the country first.

[reeses16 8]

YES!!!

[one...two...tree 2,762]

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Here's what Steve Benen has said about the bill:

The House health care reform bill is a solid piece of legislation. It has flaws, and provisions I'd change if it were up to me, but this is, on the whole, a very good bill that would bring vast improvements to a fundamentally flawed system. If this bill were to become law, it'd be reform Americans could be proud of and benefit from. But listening to the debate on the House floor, it's striking how misguided opponents' arguments really are. Instead of pointing to the bill's actual flaws, and highlighting the legislation's real shortcomings, the vast majority of the complaints deal with imaginary failings that seem to have been crafted by pollsters and campaign strategists, not policy experts or wonks (or really anyone who understands the policy at the most basic level).

The political world has been at this for most 2009, and people who should have some clue as to what they're talking about continue to make patently ridiculous claims. The two most common phrases from the lips of conservative lawmakers today are "government takeover" and "socialism."

Neither makes a lick of sense. Anyone who repeats them is, without exception, either charlatan or a fool.

The claim that the House bill would amount to "government-run health care" suffered a blow last week, when the Congressional Budget Office

estimated

that the so-called "public plan" in the revised bill wouldn't offer much in the way of competition to private insurers. But that hasn't stopped Republicans from repeating the claim.

For several months,

we've been

debunking

assertions

that Democratic health care bills call for a Canadian or British-type system in which everyone is insured, or insured and cared for, through the government. None of the bills being debated in Congress call for such a single-payer system. Conservative groups

have also claimed

that a federal health insurance plan would be the death knell for private insurance, offering a much cheaper alternative and eventually leading to "a government-run system." As we've written, how competitive the "public plan" would be depends greatly on how it's structured. And the latest iteration in the revised House bill isn't expected to have much of an impact on private insurers, according to the nonpartisan CBO and an independent analysis of this scenario.

But Republicans are still recycling "government-run" claims and old analyses that don't pertain to the bill. House Minority Leader John Boehner

was saying

back in June that the House bill "is a complete government takeover of our health care system," and again last week, Boehner

that the revised House bill is "nothing short of a complete government takeover of our health care system." Boehner partly blamed the federal insurance plan for the takeover, saying, "you' re going to drive every private health insurance company out of business."

We're hearing the same arguments, ad nauseum, today.

It's sad, for lack of a better word, that in the midst of the biggest, most significant, most consequential domestic policy debate in recent memory, an entire political party has committed itself to repeating talking points with no basis in reality. Claims have been routinely presented, debunked, and shamelessly repeated anyway. Arguments ranging from "fascism" to "death panels" to "socialized medicine" have become eerily common, despite having no connection to reality.

We're watching one of the rare instances in which a bill's actual flaws are ignored, while confused politicians debate the merit of ideas that aren't being proposed. What a waste.

I've long believed there's a greatness to American politics -- it's why I do what I do. It's genuinely embarrassing to the system and our traditions to see it go missing from a major political party during a debate of such importance.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/

[~PalmTreeGurl~ 154]

Yes it passed... be prepared for the Country to be even more screwed up. -just sayin

[ready4ONE 5,400]

Here is the bill that passed, for those who care to read it:

http://docs.house.gov/rules/health/111_ahcaa.pdf

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Yes it passed... be prepared for the Country to be even more screwed up. -just sayin

Will I get to hold you to those words when in, say a year or so you'll realize that you bought into a bunch of fearmongering horse manure?

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

The political world has been at this for most 2009, and people who should have some clue as to what they're talking about continue to make patently ridiculous claims. The two most common phrases from the lips of conservative lawmakers today are "government takeover" and "socialism."

Neither makes a lick of sense. Anyone who repeats them is, without exception, either charlatan or a fool.

Or, as Barney Frank would say, those would be the losers of the "Are you smarter than Michele Bachmann contest"

[one...two...tree 2,762]

The political world has been at this for most 2009, and people who should have some clue as to what they're talking about continue to make patently ridiculous claims. The two most common phrases from the lips of conservative lawmakers today are "government takeover" and "socialism."

Neither makes a lick of sense. Anyone who repeats them is, without exception, either charlatan or a fool.

Or, as Barney Frank would say, those would be the losers of the "Are you smarter than Michele Bachmann contest"

lol

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Yes it passed... be prepared for the Country to be even more screwed up. -just sayin

That's what they said when Medicare passed -just sayin

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Yes it passed... be prepared for the Country to be even more screwed up. -just sayin

That's what they said when Medicare passed -just sayin

Speaking of Medicare...I was just talking with my father tonight. He's near approaching 82, has a pacemaker and was recently diagnosed with Parkinson's. He says his medical care is excellent. He has 3 specialists - one of which is physical therapist that helps him with maintaining his coordination. All of this thanks to Medicare.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Yes it passed... be prepared for the Country to be even more screwed up. -just sayin

That's what they said when Medicare passed -just sayin

Speaking of Medicare...I was just talking with my father tonight. He's near approaching 82, has a pacemaker and was recently diagnosed with Parkinson's. He says his medical care is excellent. He has 3 specialists - one of which is physical therapist that helps him with maintaining his coordination. All of this thanks to Medicare.

Any private insurance company would have him dropped like a hot potato some time ago. That's what the naysayers fail to see.

[DEDixon 39]

yes!!!! now i just have to read up for a way to scam the system... it's govt, should be easy. no shame!!!

[Nagishkaw 510]

Sigh.